Child Protection  

PURPOSE

Happy Hearts Nursery aims to work with children, parents and the community to ensure the safety of children and to give them the very best start in life. Staff will endeavor to create an environment in our pre-school where children are safe from abuse and in which any suspicion of abuse is promptly and appropriately responded to following proper procedures.

DEFINITIONS

Protection – the action of protecting, or the state of being protected

Abuse -  treat with cruelty or violence, especially regularly or repeatedly.

POLICY STATEMENT

We aim to:

• create an environment in our nursery which encourages children to develop a positive self-image, regardless of race, language, religion, culture or home background;
• help children to establish and sustain satisfying relationships within their families, with peers, and with other adults;
• encourage children to develop a sense of autonomy and independence;
• work with parents to build their understanding of and commitment to the welfare of all our children.
• We have procedures for recording the details of visitors to the nursery (visitors log book).
• We take security steps to ensure that we have control over who comes into the nursery so that no unauthorized person has unsupervised. Visitor must record their contact number and ID number. Male visitors are not allowed to visit premises during nursery hours.
• We introduce key elements of child protection into our foundation stage curriculum, so that children can develop understanding of why and how to keep safe. Our lesson plan involves topics like-
  • Safety at home
  • Safety at school
  • Safety on the bus
  • Stranger Danger
• We ensure that this is carried out in a way that is appropriate for the ages and stages of our children.

Recording suspicions of abuse and disclosures:

Staff make a record of:

• The child ‘s name;
  • The child’s address;
  • The age of the child;
  • The date and time of the observation or the disclosure;
  • An objective record of the observation or disclosure;
  • The exact words spoken by the child;
  • The name of the person to whom the concern was reported, with date and time;
  • The names of any other person present at the time.

These records are signed and dated and kept in a separate confidential file. All members of staff know the procedures for recording and reporting.

Informing Parents:

Parents are normally the first point of contact. If a suspicion of abuse is recorded, parents are informed at the same time as the report is made. This will usually be the case where the parent is the likely abuser. In these cases, the investigating officers will inform parents.

Confidentiality:

All suspicions and investigations are kept confidential and shared only with those who need to know.

IMPLEMENTATION DOCUMENTS

Please refer to the following documents to ensure the effective implementation of the policy:

• Child Protection Form